How many people are riding CTfastrak? Precise figures aren't expected until June

State transportation officials expect to have solid numbers in June about ridership and revenue on the new CTfastrak rapid transit bus service.

Supporters and critics alike have been eager to get hard data on exactly how many people use the busway and what taxpayers are spending on operating subsidies. But the Department of Transportation says those figures aren't available yet.

Even though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's office this month declared that the busway had shown "early indicators of success," the DOT hasn't publicly provided detailed numbers on route-by-route ridership, new revenue or operating expenses.

The DOT said in April that it would take until June or so to produce specific, reliable breakdowns of how many people ride the new green buses and what they're paying. In response to recent requests for those details, Transit Administrator Michael Sanders indicated that the June timetable is still in effect.

"In the end, divisionwide revenue change is the most valid measure. May revenue will probably be the first time we can give you a revenue snapshot since we were still free for the first five days of April," Sanders said in an email.

State officials announced last week that the new system, which began operations on March 28 on a 9.4-mile dedicated roadway between Hartford and New Britain, is attracting about 7,000 new riders a day, in addition to the 7,000 that were...

State officials announced last week that the new system, which began operations on March 28 on a 9.4-mile dedicated roadway between Hartford and New Britain, is attracting about 7,000 new riders a day, in addition to the 7,000 that were...

(Editorial)

Even then, it won't be possible to say how many CTfastrak riders are people who've chosen the bus over their cars, Sanders said. Busway advocates for years have promised the service would help reduce congestion on I-84. Until riders are surveyed later this year, though, there's no way to tell how many of them are former highway commuters, Sanders said.

Overall, the DOT reports that CTfastrak is providing roughly 7,000 rides each weekday and that regular CT Transit buses along the same corridor are maintaining about 7,000 rides as well. That puts average weekday ridership around 14,000.

The 12:45 a.m. bus to New Britain from downtown has the unmistakable sound of a rolling party.

On bus 1473 last Thursday, about 80 young partyers fill the seats and jam the aisles, thunderously chanting...

(DON STACOM)

The DOT says its new Route 101, the backbone of busway service, is the busiest. The route uses 60-foot articulated buses to shuttle between downtown New Britain and downtown Hartford from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m., with high-frequency service at rush hours.

The second busiest CTfastrak service is Route 128, according to the DOT. It runs from downtown Hartford on the busway as far as the Elmwood station in West Hartford, then takes local roads to Westfarms and Central Connecticut State University before rejoining the busway at the downtown New Britain station.

Sanders acknowledged that the CCSU shuttle and other circulator routes have been "a little disappointing," but said they operate in areas that didn't have transit bus service before. Prospective riders in such places may take longer to get accustomed to riding buses, the DOT has said.

The DOT hasn't released specific figures showing day-by-day and hour-by-hour ridership on each of the busway's eight routes and four express routes.

"We are collecting and reporting route by route [numbers] but not putting them out for public consumption/review at this time," Sanders said.

When busway advocates were lobbying for legislative support several years ago, they frequently cited a projection of 16,000 rides a day. The DOT has said the goal for the first year of service was 11,200, with 16,300 not forecast until the year 2030. Those numbers would include passengers on regular CT Transit blue buses that run in the same general corridor, the DOT said.

"DOT projects that there will be about 16,000 boardings of the busway by 2030, about twice the number of current daily boardings on all bus routes in the corridor west of Hartford," a 2012 Office of Legislative Research report said. "DOT says it expects to reach the 16,000 figure long before 2030 and expects to average about 5,500 additional daily boardings in the busway's first year of operation."

Calculating the net cost to taxpayers of the busway's day-to-day operations will be more complex than simply adding the money from daily fares. Many riders in the first weeks have used their monthly CT Transit passes; entirely new riders who buy new passes will be additional income for the system. But regular CT Transit passengers who use the CTfastrak buses in place of — or in addition to — the CT Transit blue buses won't be producing any more income than they did before.

The DOT has previously estimated the CTfastrak system would require an annual subsidy of about $10 million to cover wages and benefits for drivers, mechanics and other employees, along with the expense of maintaining the stations and 9.4-mile roadway. But the actual subsidy won't be clear until accurate revenue and expense figures are available.